Call me a cynic: Cellphone Chomp Called 911 for Beagle's Owner

but there are a couple of things wrong with this story:

Her owner, Kevin Weaver, 34, was in the throes of a diabetic seizure, lying unconscious on his kitchen floor in Ocoee, Fla., when Belle located his phone and chomped down on the keypad, triggering a call.

The only thing emergency dispatchers heard was barking, but it was enough cause to send help, they reasoned. Weaver, a former flight attendant, woke up hours later in the hospital, weak and disoriented. Belle was there by his side, having finagled a ride in the ambulance.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/18/AR2006061800857_pf.html

People love stories about dogs doing heroic human-like things but this one stretches it pretty far. A friend of mine works at one of the larger assistance dog training institutes in the country and I have had a few discussions with him about what dogs are capable of. I have yet to run this story past him but here is what strikes me as stretching believability:

1) the owner didn't recognize his own state of low blood sugar ?! Even though the dog was trained to alert him, had done so in the past and was doing so prior to his collapse. Allegedly Kevin believed the dog was doing the same set of behaviors he had been trained to do for low blood sugar because the dog had to pee. And for those who are or know diabetics, blood sugar as low as 25 is always accompanied by sweating and disorientation.

2) the dog got the cell phone out of Kevin's pocket while Kevin was collapsed on the floor. Difficult.

3) the dog had to open the cell phone. With its mouth?!

4) the dog bit specifically the number 9 on the keypad to trigger the call. Okay the dog can't see the keypad while it is allegedly attempting this so it must be using its sense of touch (teeth)-- fair enough but how does it touch the keypad to find the "9" key without pressing any of the other numbers?

5) rather than spend $9000 to train a dog to bite a cell phone, it seems more reasonable to get something like Lifealert which has one big key (that is the famous "I've fallen and I can't get up" device)and train the dog to press that with its foot, nose, etc.

6) the 911 operator hears barking and thinks "oh I should send an ambulance" ?

7) even though the call is from a cell phone, the operator sends an ambulance to this guy's house. I guess they have plenty of ambulances and just send one out every time a dog barks into a phone ?

More likely Kevin hit the number 9 before passing out and the rest is wishful thinking. Also the award is being given by a pro-cell phone group and being played for maximum publicity. I smell something on this story and it ain't low blood sugar.

50K people in one county are just too dumb to read a ballot? I'm supposed to believe that, and not that a group of people with needles altered them? I can believe a dog dialing 911 more easily.

I had a seizure once, and I literally didn't feel a thing; one moment I was fine, the next moment I was in a seizure. And they did my blood sugar during the seizure and it was 65; low, but not too low; I've been perfectly alert and awake at a 24 once.

So, #1 I can understand.

is a type I diabetic. He is in his fifties, and he said in an interview that "lows" tend to sneak up on him in ways they didn't when he was younger. For myself, I'm betting that the crazy hours he works don't help. Fortunately, while he is working his castmates, aware of the problem, keep an eye on him.

Oh, really...

;-)

The symptoms of hypoglycemia (diaphoresis, headache, shakiness, etc) can set in at 60mg/dL. 25mg/dL is a medical emergency; someone with levels that low may not be able to function. Administering too much insulin can easily cause such a rapid drop in BG levels.

Where is the original story when this first happened? From what I can tell, the only reason we are hearing about this now is because of this "VITA Wireless Samaritan Award" press release

http://www.cellularonewest.com/Vita.asp

is what get me. I own two dogs and I couldn't imagine them being able to single out the small portion of the key paid this way.

order, without biting on any other number?

B_ _ _shit. I ain't biting.

on speed dial. The story is a little "National Inquirer."

Try it. Then again, don't.

is the complete code for 9-1-1.
I'm still calling b_ _ _shit, but that's Ok, let him live his fantasy world.

and thought it totally bunk...but...now I'm not so sure:

Number of dogs that a California clinic trained to diagnose cancer by sniffing patients’ breath: 5
Percentage of lung- and breast-cancer cases that they accurately detect, respectively: 99, 88
Percentage of breast-cancer cases that are detectable by mammogram: 85

http://www.harpers.org/MostRecentIndex.html

911 is exactly what they do.

don't say anything about phone calls. Plus why not have something with one big key or button rather than a tiny akward cell phone? If I have a seizure I want my dog using a landline. It would be a terrible moment to have the phone uncharged or get no signal.

http://www.dogs4diabetics.com/

They also train 911 operators to respond to barking dogs.

This is no surprise.

Pro-cell phone group? WTF?

Maybe it's those big, bloated dog food company lobbyists.

to use something like "Ablephone" which has a large key on it.



http://www.ablephone.com/model3000.php

They train dogs to do lots of things.

I have seen dogs trained to read, to sniff out parasites in wineries, to sniff out cancer, to turn off lights, etc. They are capable of learning almost anything but they must be physically able to do it.

Easily.

...she did NOT always know when she was going into a low blood-sugar episode. At least three times I had to make her stop, sit down, and drink OJ or eat an energy bar. She was literally sweating, disoriented, and semi-coherent, and would have passed out fairly quickly if she hadn't ingested something quickly at that point. Had I not been there and noticed she could easily have wandered around until she collapsed, without realizing it.

The rest of it does seem improbable.

informatively,
Bright

cops will come on a hang-up. But "finagling a ride to the hospital?" oh puhleeeze. I have had many wonderful dogs....smart, dumb and in between. But I never had a finagler.

That's the unbelievable part for me...

If you had 911 on a speeddial button, it;s remotely possible that the dog chomped on that key, BUT....I smell fish:)

speed dial. never underestimate the devotion or intelligence of an animal that loves you. For instance, yesterday I was pulling dandelions out and tripped, landing on my head on the ground. Of my four dachshunds, two came running over. one dropped his ball to play and the other just looked at me with concern. I am still laughing. There wasn't a speed dial within miles of these two wankers. :)

No. 3 - You don't have to open my phone to dial. In fact, my phone features a locked-key position because the phone IS exposed and subject to make off-the-wall calls.

No. 6 - Yes. A 911 operator must ALWAYS send either the First Reponders or the police to each and every 911 call. That's why they impress upon you not to call 911 for the weather or traffic conditions.

act like human are the only intelligent things around. This little doggie can sense things you can't!

it is the cellphone part. And this story became "news" because CTIA, a Washington DC based cell phone industry lobbying group, pushed it. They declare that they are "dedicated to expanding the wireless frontier."

Fine. But to my knowledge they make phones specifically for dogs to use which have one huge button that speed dials 9-1-1 (see pic above) yet according to these wireless industry lobbyists, this Beagle is capable of using a button roughly 100 times smaller and not designed to be operated with teeth. That is the part of the story I doubt.